US to Purchase Toxic Assets

Out, out, toxic assets! The federal government has a new tripartite plan for eliminating bad investments from the financial system, which it will unveil on Monday, The Wall Street Journal reports. The new plan will require the US to buy up bad assets, and will require significant cooperation from the private sector. The effort, which WSJ estimates will cost some $75 to $100 billion, will create an FDIC-backed entity for buying and holding loans. But given the contentious relationships between the Obama administration and the companies it keep bailing out some questions how cooperative corporations will be with the White House’s new plan. The same CEOs who kowtowed before Congress mere months ago are no openly complaining about the government; Bank of America chief Kenneth Lewis criticized the Feds harshly in an open letter to employees on Friday.